Tom Cruise is rooting for Penelope Cruz in Oscar race

MADRID: US star Tom Cruise said Tuesday he hopes Spanish actress Penelope Cruz, a former girlfriend, will win the Oscar for her role in Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona".

"It's fantastic. I am very excited by her second nomination. I hope she wins," he told reporters in Madrid, where he is promoting his new film "Valkyrie," when asked about Cruz's best supporting actress nomination.

Cruz's family attended the Spanish premier of the movie, about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler, at Madrid's Teatro Real on Tuesday, Spanish media reported.

Cruise, 46 and Cruz, 34, met on the set of the 2001 film "Vanilla Sky".

The couple, who spent long periods apart while filming, broke up at the end of January 2004, Cruise's sister and publicist, Lee Anne DeVette, said at the time.

In an interview published Saturday in Spanish newspaper El Pais, Cruz said she wants to leave Los Angeles and divide her time between New York and Madrid.

"After a number of years in Los Angeles, I no longer want to live here, It will be better if I share my time between New York and Madrid, where my family is," she said.

Cruz was nominated for best actress in 2007 for "Volver," by Spanish director and longtime career mentor Pedro Almodovar.

The 81st annual Academy Awards will be held on February 22 at Hollywood's Kodak Theater.